Ragtime lyric question

As my name would suggest, I'm a pretty big fan of Ragtime. After listening to the cast recording with a friend yesterday we got into a bit of a debate over the line in 'Till We Reach That Day when Coalhouse sings about Sarah: "she had life in her, Lord, she had my baby". I used to thing this was alluding to the fact that Sarah was pregnant again but for some reason I can't quite remember, just decided it was a way of saying she was (or at least grew to be) happy living and that she was the one to give Coalhouse a son. Anyone have an opinion? I've thought about it so much with my friend, I've lost the ability to understand the line properly. I could be doing something more constructive with my time but..

Yes but does he mean the STAIRS got to her or the STARES she had to endure as an unwed black mother!??

No good can possibly come from using this vast wasteland of error and deliberate deceit. You should get off of it and warn others away. You should make sure your children and grandchildren know what a corrupt and morally bankrupt institution it truly is.

on the subject of Ragtime lyrics, there's a line in Till We Reach that Day that's always confused me a little too, it's quite trivial actually but when it goes "So they beat her, And beat her and beated her", the production I saw I thought she was shot to death? or does the beating refer to how life and society had beaten her down?

oh right, in the production I saw there was a shot and the crowd clears and then we see Sarah dead on the ground from what I remember - I think that works better, surely the police wouldn't start beating and whipping a person they think is armed? Anyways, thanks for clearing that up